The present invention generally relates to orbital-type machines which are employed for finishing the surfaces of various work pieces by centrifugal force. More particularly, the present invention relates generally to multi-drum orbital barrel finishing machines which receive abrasive media and work pieces for rotation about generally horizontally disposed axes.
Orbital barrel finishing machines are typically employed for deburring, radiusing, polishing and finishing the surfaces of a wide variety of stampings, forgings and machine components. The rate of surface abrasion of the work pieces is a function of the type of abrasive media, the speed with which the orbital finishing machine is operated, and the length of the operation of the orbital barrel finishing machine. While orbital barrel finishing machines have enjoyed wide popularity and have been widely employed in the surfaces finishing arts to obtain high quality surface finishing, the continued competitive mandates to reduce manufacturing and labor costs has resulted in the increasing desirability of automating the surface finishing process as much as possible. Accordingly, it is a principal aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved orbital barrel finishing machine which may be employed as an integral part of a highly automated materials finishing system and to provide an integrated automated surface finishing system.